Silverwaters

Well, here’s to another year! For the first time since Cherise’s birth, the two girls managed to stay up for the fireworks, but were then disappointed that the pretty ones also make noise. It was too close for them to be on the balcony, so we watched from inside. Before that we had our traditional candle light event, followed by lots of snacks, kids champane (which Charlotte kept calling beer. It was weird hearing my 7-year old say, “Pass the beer”), dancing to Latin music (thanks to Jo), game, and then quiet reading until midnight.

I would love to write more, but I’m basically writing each word twice…think the ‘adult’ champane is hitting me. Happy New Year, all. Talk to you tomorrow!

So we had a nice time in ZG. Christmas dinner was a noisy, busy affair…great! Lots of kids, lots of laughs, warm wine, good company…excellent! Today the kids got to go to the big Christmas fair, which is an interactive place with games, tasting booths, a dance performance, etc. What did I do? I napped with Jordan (first nap in weeks), had some WT and started reading my new cookbook. It was relaxing. Tomorrow begins the last part of our Christmas push: finishing the packages and bringing them to the families we help.

I am working on fixing my photo site again. Thank you for your patience! Oh, and the comments work, an error message comes up, but it still gets posted.

Merry Christmas all!

We started off on a great day–no snow, but very cold and frosty! Charlotte and Cherise read stories in bed so we could sleep in a bit more, and then, after a special breakfast, we had songs, praise time and then it was present time. The cutest and funnest part was the way the kids were so excited watching people open the presents they had gotten for them. Jo didn’t know that CC had gotten him gloves, Charlotte got a ring from Chreise, Jordan got cars from everyone but Cherise who got him a ‘mushy’ (translation: playdough) set with farm stensils. We will be heading down to ZG later today for Christmas dinner, so I won’t blog for another day or two.

This Christmas season was busy, as always. We had stands in two supermarkets, went carolling/visiting with the girls, did a small show at a kindergarten (my first w/o a translator! You never know what you can do until you try…), wrote cards, visited friends and contacts, etc. Thankfully, Jo had more time this year, so I only had to write a little over 100 cards. The fun thing we did the last two days was passing out children’s Activated mags. We had ordered a whole lot of mags, but some people who usually took bulk cancelled, but gave sponsorship for us to give them out as we felt led. So aside from saving some for the packages we’re still putting together for the underprivileged families we help, we were able to pass them out with the girls. The first day, Charlotte and I went into shops asking people if they had small children (if not, they got a regular mag). It was so nice to see people who were sad, lonely, bored, etc, lighting up like a Christmas tree when we gave them something for free! CC told everyone ‘Sretan Bozic’ which was a hit as well. The next day we went to VZ and gave them to children on the street. I was so proud of the girls for wanting to do this, even running after kids to make sure they got their C-mas present–the best one of all. We pray that many will be saved through the mags.

I just want to wish a few people a Merry Christmas by name…don’t know if you all read this, but here goes:

Lots of love to my mom and Chris
Love and prayers to Katrina and Dan
Many kisses to Kaia, Crystal and the kids
Love and thanks to all at ZG home
Kisses to Leila
Merry Christmas, Vicky!
Love you, Dad
All the best and tons of love for Curri
Best wishes, Zeth and Serena
Love to Jasmina

And if I didn’t mention you, it’s not that I don’t love you, I just forgot to write it down! Sorry! May you have a great Christmas, lots of love and I pray that something special will happen for you today. I love you!

So, let me catch up on all the news…

I was in ZG for a week, practicing up to 1 ½ hrs a day (and anyone who’s practiced with 4-9 yrs olds knows this is a loooooong time) for their 5 minutes of fame. Of course, we brought all our school supplies, so nothing got left behind. I was able to help with making the 1000 packages that were distributed at the big program there; we actually made about 800 of them in the end—the kids and I, that is. Those were some precious moments I hope to hang on to for the rest of my life! The kids all worked together so well, and thought it was great fun, putting chocolates, notebooks, a children’s Kontakt (Croatian Activated) and other sweets into bags. After a while, we had three different assembly lines going: Cherise and Mario (7) were on the slow track. Mario would line up the mags with a chocolate bar in the middle and the other sweets on both sides. I would bag the big notebooks as they had a hard time doing it without ripping the bags, which Cherise would then take from me and lovingly insert the mag laden with goodies into the bag for me to take away again. Next to them, Charlotte and Christina (5) had their ‘girly’ corner. Here everything was counted and set up perfectly. They were very concerned that they wouldn’t run out of supplies, so kept me hopping with that as well. Next to them were Steffi (9) and Steven (8) who did it the grown up way—standing up (the other kids were sitting so as not to break the bags). They also helped bag the books for the little ones when I had to restock, organize the finished bags into boxes and move them out for more room, etc. By the end of the first day we had made about 300 bags in 1 ½ hrs and my back was killing me! But it was so worth it! The kids just kept ranting about how much fun it was to work like this, thinking out loud about the kids they’d be making happy with the treats, etc. The next few days saw some few, some more kids helping, but in the end thanks to more adult help, we finished them all and distributed (I believe) 800 to the attending kids.

The big day came, and the kids were nervous. Understandably so! The hall could hold 1000 and at least that many had been invited. There was the band from Rj and dance team from Lj. The clown kept things cracking throughout, but so many people thought the kids were the best part. I had tears in my eyes, watching them dance with the biggest smiles, and then when it came time to tell their names and ages, Cherise went to the highest pitch ever! I don’t know why, maybe she was nervous, but it was the cutest to hear her squeak her name and say cheteri (4) over the speaker system. They didn’t get to do their second dance, due to a confusion that happened because some of the teachers thought the show was over before it really was, but by the time they were told, it was too late to save the rest of the show. All the kids cried. They had looked forward to performing again, but praise the Lord, it worked out for most of them to perform at the show here in CK later on in the week.

After that exhausting experience, we were off to put the finishing touches on our show here. It was a miracle how everything came together, especially considering we’re such a small team right now. The manager of the cinema/cultural center found a slot he squeezed us in for free (we have tried for YEARS to get a slot there around Christmas, but it’s always been too busy), gave us sound and light technicians—the whole works. We got over 150 children sponsored tickets, invited a whole lot of other people, put up advertisements, and practiced like crazy. Thank the Lord, we were able, in the nick of time (literally) to get our Croatian nationals to help. Without them, the show would have been nothing! No one else came to help, as they all had prior appointments and engagements. The Lord did it anyway, and the show was a success. Media showed up, so we got our few minutes on local evening news as well. The turnout wasn’t as big as we had hoped, but the people who came were thankful and appreciative. All in all, also a good learning experience.

Other than that, live has gone back to Christmas ‘business as usual’. We had a stand for two days at a local supermarket, with another two days at a different one coming up. I’m busting my hands already on writing Christmas cards (one reason I’m typing now…give my hands a break, ha). Last year I wrote over 250—I have a feeling it’ll be more this year.

Ok, gotta get back to work. If I’m not on here much right now, it’s because I’m busy, but will keep you all posted as soon as I find time.